How to Harness the True Power of the 7 Top Content Types for B2B Lead Generation

Today’s top B2B brands tend to rely on seven types of marketing content to generate the majority of their leads. These content types include, in order of effectiveness, email marketing, content marketing social media marketing, landing page and website optimization, SEO, paid search, and webinars or virtual events.

Source: Smart Insights

Before your organization starts putting these tactics to use, even if you’ve already been using them—here are some expert tips to help you maximize your lead generation results.

Email Marketing

If any lead generation tactic has proven to endure, it’s email marketing. The marketing channel is over twenty years old and is still used by most brands to get folks interested enough to buy.

While email marketing by itself is still useful, marketing automation allows you to score leads based on interest. So you spend more valuable time sending messages to those who actually want to hear from you, reducing lead times, and improving the value of the leads you earn.

Marketing automation will also help you avoid many common email marketing mistakes, like emailing too frequently or failing to respond. It literally puts your marketing channel on autopilot and is a must-have for ambitious and busy marketing teams.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is one of those broad stroke terms that can encompass everything from a blog post to an infographic. The most popular forms of content tend to be social media content, eNewsletters, relevant and informative articles, engaging blog posts, in-person events, case studies, videos, illustrations and photos, online presentations, infographics, webinars, research reports (whitepapers), and microsites.

Even though microsites are only used by 47% of B2Bs surveyed, a single microsite helped Xerox add 20,000 new contacts and 1000+ scheduled appointments for a whopping $1.3 billion in improved revenue.

Should you use all of the above pieces of content?

Of course—to experiment and find what works for your audience. After all, what works for one organization may not work with yours. Test and then test some more, and you’ll find the content that best resonates with quality leads.

Social Media Marketing

Many brands would argue that their social media efforts have been lackluster at generating leads, at best.

Source: Venture Harbour

On the other hand, Modern Media reported that they added $2M to their pipeline with LinkedIn as their sole social media lead generation strategy. Not only is it about using the right social channels, But it’s also about using them the right way. Don’t just post content and then forget. Focus on building relationships with your audience if you want to get the most out of b2b social marketing. That means responding to comments and engaging in conversations to keep leads on the hook.

Landing Page/Website Optimization

When it comes to optimizing landing pages and web pages, the title is everything. Visitors are going to see the title before they even glance at any images on the page.

What they see in that title will tell them:

A) If they are in the right place

B) You understand the problem they’re facing

C) You have a solution to their problem.

Your title should do all three of those things while moving the visitor’s needle at the same time.

Other elements to enhance lead conversions include videos, trust emblems, testimonials, and clear and concise language that speaks to the visitor’s pressing concerns.

While you’re at it, remove all navigation and keep the form simple to make conversions as simple as landing and clicking.

SEO

Few would argue that organic search engine optimization or search marketing is one of the most cost-effective and viable strategies for lead generation over the long-term. In fact, 82% of marketers see SEO as becoming more effective over time. To be effective at SEO, let’s be honest, it pays to focus on Google, which accounted for 79% of all global desktop search traffic in 2017. That means you must play according to the rules established by Google. Use Google Search Console.

When it comes to keywords, 50% of search queries are specific and consist of four words or more. Think more in terms of complete sentences, as that’s typically how people use voice search, for instance.

Your website should be responsive, as more people will be viewing your content on tiny screens. Most importantly, populate your online presence with high-quality content that’s around 1800-1900 words, which that can’t be found elsewhere. That way, you position yourself as the go-to thought leader in your industry, and Google will have no choice but to serve your content high on the list where the search users are.

Paid Search

Paid search methods like display advertising (such as banner ads and ads placed on the Google Display Network), Adwords text ads, Twitter ads, and LinkedIn ads are still effective for B2B marketers. But then you have CrazyEgg and others that say that Twitter marketing is useless.

The lesson is to, once again, test and test again. Use a variety of ads, ad types, and sizes to determine which ones attract online attention and produce the highest ROI.

Webinars

Webinars are highly-effective at attracting quality leads, almost as effective as a real-life tradeshow, where 81% of attendees have buying power. The benefit is that you can conduct the webinar remotely and there’s very little overhead. You don’t need to rent out a massive auditorium, in other words, and you can still have hundreds or thousands of attendees. You simply need the right webinar or virtual event software and engaging content that not only draws-in plenty of leads, but also gets those leads spreading the word.

The format for a webinar can be a simple one. A five-minute introduction, a similarly-timed overview, thirty minutes or so for the presentation, fifteen-minutes for the Q&A and a quick five-minutes for the call-to-action. A little over an hour later and you’ll have a list of interested leads to nurture.

Go for quality of information and high-resolution when it comes to videos, slides, and images. The idea is to make the webinar memorable so that your leads are lining up for your next virtual presentation.

Conclusion

Should you be using all seven of these tactics? If you have the budget and bandwidth, that would be ideal. The best offense uses every weapon in one’s arsenal.

However, the smart move is to spend resources where results are found, and that can only come with a little trial and error. Quality leads are the lifeblood of your company, and you now have seven channels to test to determine which ones your audience responds to most.